


Her Own Hero

by whisperingtales



Category: The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Post-Book Series: The Mortal Instruments, idk what to tag this it's my first time posting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27867006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whisperingtales/pseuds/whisperingtales
Summary: A little one-shot placed after CoHF.Simon contemplates his newfound relationship with Isabelle after getting his memories back.(This was written before I read either TDA or Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy so it doesn't contain spoilers for other than TMI)
Relationships: Simon Lewis & Isabelle Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Her Own Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first time posting something written by me here. Forgive me if there's any grammatical mistakes, English is not my first language, let me know so I can correct them. Any constructive criticism, reviews, comments, are welcome :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

When Simon received Isabelle’s text he thought he was dreaming. He would’ve never imagined that a girl like her could ever be interested in a guy like him, whatever that was supposed to mean. At first, Simon thought Isabelle was messing with him. But after recalling the sweetness and sincerity in those big dark eyes when she directed them to him, he didn’t believe she would be capable of doing that.

Ever since he woke up without his memories of the Shadow World, all he could feel was emptiness. As if a part of him was gone, ripped away. He used to dream about this girl with astonishing black hair and pale skin, like some live-action version of Snow White. But the one thing Simon never saw was her face. When he landed eyes on Isabelle for the first time after the whole ‘memory loss issue’, he put the pieces together, the hole in his chest becoming almost nonexistent. He felt complete again.

Within the two weeks after he’d attended Jocelyn and Luke’s wedding, he met with Clary on several occasions, either to grab a coffee at Java Jones  — under the curious look of the girl behind the counter — or to go to the comic shop. His best friend had told him many times that Isabelle requested to see him but as Simon hadn’t been feeling completely comfortable near her yet, he kept making up excuses.

While walking through a wide street, Simon noticed how everything was quite silent and empty. He looked around to check if Isabelle was close by but she wasn’t there, so he kept on walking until he reached Central Park. There was no sight of her there either. 

Disoriented and frustrated, he threw himself on a bench. He couldn’t help thinking that maybe Izzy had realized he was not worthy of her and just stood him up. From the very beginning, he was well aware that getting close to her was a risk but he’d decided to take his chances anyway. And he was glad he had. Every moment with Isabelle Lightwood had been as dangerous as it had been extraordinary, and he wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.

His phone rang, shaking him out of his thoughts. It was a text from his sister, Rebecca, asking him about the date. He decided that satiating her curiosity now was better than having to deal with her later, so he dialed Rebecca’s number and waited for her to pick up.

“Simon?” 

“Hey, Becky”.

“Ugh, finally! Took you long enough to get in touch with me; I’ve sent you hundreds of messages this week”.

“Huh yeah, sorry, I hadn’t really seen them until now”.

“Yeah, right. Well, it doesn’t matter now. How was your date with Isabella?”

“Hum, first of all, her name is Isabelle, Becky. Second, it’s not a date, and I don’t think she's showing up anyway”.

“You think  _ Isabelle  _ set you up? Listen here, buddy. If she doesn’t get there soon, you let me know. I’ll make sure she gets what she deser-”.

“Alright, alright” he cut her off. “I’ll call you as soon as I get home”. 

Simon didn’t realize when he started fidgeting with his phone, in between his hands; he could feel the anxiety creeping in as he debated whether to message Izzy or not.

He opted for the first.

_ \- Are you making time just to make a great entrance or are you really just bailing on me? _

She answered almost instantly.

_ Here we go _ , he thought.

_ \- Do u really believe I’d leave u stranded? _

_ \- I don’t know what to believe. According to you, you’re never late _ .

After that, she took some time to reply.

_ \- Well I’m not. Look behind. _

Simon got up and turned around. And then, he saw Isabelle. Her dark eyes shone under the pale moonlight, silver strings dancing in them. Her hair, black as ink, was slightly agitated by the breeze. She was wearing a blood-red coat and high boots, as dark as her hair.

Isabelle’s red lips curved into a smile. 

“Hi”.

“Uh, oh… Hey. Uh, how are you?”

“Fantastic. You?”

“Me? Oh, me. Uh, great… great”.

Simon scratched the back of his neck, awkwardly. “Would you like to go for a walk?”

“Yeah, sure. I’d like that. And, Simon?”

“Yeah?”

“I’d never bail on you”.

He composed a grin. Then, both kept quiet, afraid to say the wrong thing.

Izzy’s hand ached to hold his but decided not to as he probably wasn’t ready. Instead, she broke the silence.

“So. Have you thought about college?” 

“To be honest… I haven’t. When I got back to my ‘old life’, nothing mattered anymore, nothing was certain. Going to college didn’t even make sense. And since I kept losing focus neither did being in the band”.

“What kept you so... distracted?”

“My dreams. Or what I thought were just dreams. I think they were parts of my memory, you know? Things that are still coming back to me, slowly. Of course, it wasn’t so hard to make sense of it all when Magnus told me everything, well, some of it. I just felt like I started belonging somewhere again” he paused. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot”.

“How, how did, uh, we become a… thing?”

“Well... Something had happened to me, to my family.” Simon looked at her sideways; Izzy was staring at the ground. For an instant, he thought he saw her tremble. “And I just, I guess, relied on you. You looked after me, made sure I didn’t do anything stupid. Thank you for that, by the way”. 

“You’re welcome. I suppose”.

“That’s only how we became closer anyway. We didn’t start dating, if we can call it that, until sometime after.

He looked at her, expectant.

“I’m sorry, Simon. I really think you should try remembering these things on your own. Take the time you need. You were there for me when I needed it, and I'll be here for you now”.

  
  


He changed the subject. “I have to admit, I was surprised when you said you wanted to meet past midnight. I really thought you were messing with me”.

“But you came anyway”.

“Yeah. Of course I came” he answered.

Isabelle’s thoughts drifted to dreadful times, not even a year ago, when Jace had disappeared along with Sebastian. Never before had she been so afraid, but she had then; not for her but for her brother. For the first time she’d told Simon she needed him, asked him to go to her, to Magnus’ loft; he’d responded with the exact same words after she couldn’t quite believe he’d shown up. A rebellious tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it quickly so Simon couldn’t see it.

Isabelle realized, after walking for about an hour, that they’d reached the East River. 

“Simon… I think we should go, it’s getting really late”

“Hum, yeah. Yeah, of course”.

Throughout the way back, they’d both remained quiet, each wandering in their own thoughts. Once at the door of the Institute, Simon, though not happy about it, was ready to say goodbye; he thought it was time to go home. But taking him by surprise, Isabelle grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

“Please answer with nothing other than the truth to what I’m going to ask you. Have you been avoiding me since Jocelyn’s wedding?”

“Why would you think that?”

“Don’t answer with another question, Simon, just respond to what I asked”.

“No”.

“No, what?”

“I haven’t been avoiding you”.

“Every single time I’ve wanted to see you, Clary would tell me that you were just busy with the whole college situation. That was bullshit and you know it. I really want to know why you’ve been eluding me... Did I say or do something that upset you? Did I hurt you in any way?”

“No” he didn’t hesitate.

“Then why?”

This time he didn’t say anything.

“Answer me, Simon!”

“Because! I feel that I'm not enough for you, that every time I see you I think maybe you need someone better, someone who is at your level, Isabelle!”

Before giving herself a chance to cower, she threw her arms around Simon and held tight onto him, not quite wanting to let go.

“Don’t you dare say you’re not enough for me”, she whispered against his neck . “Do you hear me? Ever again”.

Simon sighed heavily, his eyes closed. His whole body reacted on itself, remembering hers, and fully relaxed.

“I promise”.

Isabelle took a step back, only one, that was enough to break their embrace. She turned her gaze to the floor, then to the empty streets, to the Institute’s door and back to Simon’s eyes.

“Would you, um, would you like to come in?”

He’d never, not even once, seen her stutter. “I- I don’t know if I should…”

“There’s plenty of room. Besides, it’s really late, you wouldn’t want to wake your mother. Come on, leave her a message, or maybe call your sister, I don’t know. Just, stay. Please”.

“Iz, is there something wrong?” concern was displayed all over his face.

“I’m afraid that if you leave now, I might never see you again”.

Simon slightly brushed her cheek with his thumb and nodded. He let Isabelle grab his hand and guide him into the Institute.

She asked him to remain in the room to which she had taken him while she looked for something elsewhere. He took his cellphone out of his pocket and called Rebecca, who, to his surprise, didn’t pick up and led him right to voicemail.

“Hey, Becky. Just to let you know, I’m at the Institute. Please tell mum as soon as you can so she doesn’t get worried? I’ll be home by morning. Bye, Becks. See you soon”.

While Simon waited for Izzy to get back, he took some time to inspect the dormitory. It was quite wide, with high ceilings, like the rest of the Institute, and large walls covered in an elegant purple wallpaper. There was a full-length mirror placed in one of the corners of the room and another one, much smaller, on top of the vanity table; scattered across the latter, he could glimpse every kind of cosmetics, including various tones of highlight and eyeliner, different sized perfume bottles, and plenty of accessories. Located in front of the vanity, was a chair stuffed with shiny and dark clothes, chains, and more than one weapon belt. A sofa chair occupied a small space in another corner of the room, beside a few shelves with books, pictures, and portraits  — which Simon would look at sometime else — . He turned around to face the bed, which was perfectly made, with leopard bedspreads and some colorful pillows covered in glitter and sequins on top.

Simon thought about how that room could belong to any teenager if it weren’t for the combat equipment, and it surely wasn’t the one they had for him. 

He didn’t notice Isabelle was watching him from the doorframe. She approached silently and sat on the bed, right next to him.

“Would you like to stay here for a little longer, or would you rather I just take you to your own room?”

“I… I believe I can stay here for a little while” he chuckled softly. “May I ask how I became the, huh… the ‘daylighter’?”

“Yes, you may. But I’m afraid I can’t answer that. Magnus explicitly told us to let you remember by yourself”.

“Alright, fair enough. Then, do you, by chance, have my Star Wars t-shirt and my Naruto comic book? Because I’ve looked all over and I still haven’t been able to find them”.

“I.. don’t, no. I haven’t seen them, sorry”.

“Well, would you give them back?”.

“Simon, I just told you, I don’t have them”.

“How come I don’t believe you?” He narrowed his eyes.

She mirrored his expression. “I don’t know, why don’t you?”

For how long, they didn’t know, but all they did was stare into each other’s eyes, nothing but silence surrounding them.

“Isabelle… What, uh,...” he seemed to be choosing every word carefully. “What happened to you  _ then _ ?”

Izzy gave him a confused look.

“You said that a certain… event, brought us together. What exactly happened?”

Her face instantly darkened. He hadn’t imagined it, then.

“Iz, you don’t have to tell me. You know what, I’m so sorry. Forget I even asked”.

“War happened. A war that reached our country's borders and surpassed them. And that destroyed everything we thought was safe” her eyes showed no emotion. Not a single drop of silver in them, just pure, devastating blackness. “I-”, her voice broke.

“Izzy”.

“I made the greatest mistake of my life. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I didn’t listen. I  _ never  _ listen” she shut her eyes tightly, trying to erase the horrible images of Max's lifeless body from her mind, despite knowing that they would always be there, that she would never forget. “We… we told him to go to bed and when, when he said we were under attack, we didn’t believe him. And I… I left him alone. I left him alone with a monster, with the one who killed him”. A sob shook Izzy’s body, as tears made their way down her cheeks. “It was- it was all my fault”.

“Isabelle. Isabelle, look at me” he caressed her cheek, gently wiping her tears, and made her look at him, through her dark, wet eyelashes. “You can’t blame yourself for something you didn’t do, something you had no control over. Izzy, you couldn’t have known…”

Simon pulled Isabelle closer and put his arms around her. And she clung to him as if her life depended on it.

“Who?” he asked softly.

She knew who he meant. “Max. My little brother. He warned us. He warned us and we didn’t listen. Alec drew him away and then Max was left alone with  _ him.  _ When I came back, Sebastian was gone, and Max … My baby…”

“Shh…” he started stroking Isabelle’s hair. “That’s enough, Izzy. Quit blaming yourself, it wasn’t your fault, ok? It wasn’t.”

“I didn’t go to his funeral. And, after that, I never dared to go visit him. I thought that, that if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be real. If I could do anything, to have my little brother back, believe me, I would. I wouldn’t doubt it for a second, I’d do anything to have him here”.

“I know… I know”.

Even though tears still stained her beautiful face, Isabelle seemed calmer somehow. She looked up at him and said, “I saw your inert body once, you know? You were dead. And despite not knowing you almost at all, I felt something I… I couldn’t explain. And it scared me,” she admitted.

Simon gave her a half amused smile, relieved to see the pain leave her eyes. His eyes travelled from them down; to her mouth, her neck. His gaze stopped at two almost imperceptible marks, almost like… 

“Are those bite marks?”

“What?” She noticed where his eyes were directed at. “Ah, yes”.

“Did I… Did I do that to you?”

“You did. But only one time. And I asked you to”.

Simon gave her an incredulous look. “Why the hell would you do that?!”

“Because it’s hot” .

“I- ”

“Just kidding… kinda. You were starving and we had no blood supplies for you at hand. But don’t worry, you gave me your blood once, and saved my life. So you could say we’re even”.

He snorted. “Thanks, I feel so much better,” he said, sarcasm drenching his voice.

“Simon, I… I had a really hard time accepting you had become a mundane again. Right when I was getting a hold of you, I lost you. But I realized that, if you truly were happy, at least it would’ve been worth it. We were well aware of how little you liked being a vampire, and how much you missed how your old life used to be. Yes, you lost Luke, and Clary, our friends... and you lost me too. But you would have never known. And it would’ve been fine because you were happy.

Izzy fought the urge to cry again. “Simon, I don’t think, I don’t think I can take any more losses. If you leave me again, I don’t know what on earth I’m going to do”.

“Isabelle… I will never leave you again. I promise”. 

Simon pulled Isabelle closer again, and planted a kiss on her hair. She rested her head on his chest and relaxed against him. For the first time in a long while, sleep came to her uninterrupted, no nightmares driving her awake, in Simon’s arms. Her own hero.

  
  
  



End file.
